Heat-Haze Days
by FantasyFreedom
Summary: He smiles. I reach out to him, my mouth open with a silent scream and time speeds up. The giant truck slams into him and his blood flies everywhere. On the ground, on the sign beside me, the truck, and all over the front of my shirt and jeans. The smell of cooper and metallic invade my nose. My hands, covered in scarlet, come up to my mouth and it mixes with my tears.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, so this is the first chapter of Heat-Haze Days. Let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer- I don't own any Maximum Ride characters or songs that appear in this story.**

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Seven years ago (8 years old)

I tore open the christmas present eagerly and a squeal escapes my throat. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" I say jumping up and down with a dark purple electric guitar clutched in my small arms. "I got ta show Fang! Now we can finally start a band!"

I turn to run but my feet are tangled in the snowman wrapping paper.

I stretch out my arms to catch myself and the new guitar skitters across the ground and slides into a wall. my palms hit the tile first, then my chin slams to the ground with a crack.

My parents gasp and shoot to their feet, probably more concerned about the expensive gift. Me falling is not an unusual occurrence.

I hop up instantly, rush forward to grab the fallen present, and sprint out the door before mom and dad can reprimand me for being reckless. I run across the snowy yard to the next house and open the door without knocking. I never do. Why should I?

"Fang!" I shout. "_Fang!_" I enter the living room sliding in my wet fluffy winter socks. Then, falling again, as I tip backwards, I flail my arms in a desperate attempt to stay up right.

A small hand reaches out and snatches the guitar out of my grip before my butt slams into the ground, arms sprawled out behind me. Standing above me with my guitar in hand, is a boy my age. He wears black plaid pants with a black t-shirt. compared to my green socks, fuzzy blue cookie monster pants and black t-shirt, I was more childish looking.

I grin. "Fang!" I leap to my feet and start hopping up and down, causing pain to shoot up through my chin. I ignore it. "Did you see, did you see? Now we can start a band!" He takes a step sideways and lifts up a black shiny electric and I gasp. "I have to call Iggy!" I step forward to grab mine back but he grips my wrist.

In his high little kids voice he says, "Why is your chin all bloody? It's kind of gross."

I touch under my chin where a dull throb is and it comes away, covered in a wet scarlet.

Now (age 15)

"Can you make some noise?!" I yell into the screaming crowd and they get louder, shouting our names. I grin into the mike hanging on my ear. "That's what I'm talking about! This is to all you amazing fans and your support. We couldn't be here tonight if it weren't for y'all. You guys ready?!"

Several shouts of 'ya's rose up and I had to laugh. I love this. The rush of adrenaline from performing with my friends, the crowd cheering us on. And the singing. That's what I love the most. It's the singing.

"What ever you do, don't grow up."

I turn my back to the crowd and a purple electric guitar flies at me. As the neck lands in my palm, Iggy hits the drums hard. The lights flash. I sling the strap over my shoulder and start singing. The lights flash again and I jump as the drums hit loudly and my feet connect to the ground again.

_Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs_  
_With the boom box blaring as we're falling in love_  
_Got a bottle of whatever, but it's getting us drunk_  
_Singing here's to never growing up_

_Call up all our friends, go hard this weekend_  
_For no damn reason, I don't think we'll ever change_  
_Meet you at the spot, half past ten o'clock_  
_We don't ever stop, and we're never gonna change_

I dace around swinging my hips. I swing my guitar so it rests across my back. I come up behind Fang who is rocking out on his black guitar, and throw an arm around his shoulders. He turns his head to me and smirks.

Say, won't you stay forever stay  
If you stay forever hey  
We can stay forever young

I let go of him and move to Iggy who is playing base.

Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs  
With the boom box blaring as we're falling in love  
Got a bottle of whatever, but it's getting us drunk  
Singing, here's to never growing up

I bump my hip into his and mess up his hair. He scowls and bats me away. The crowd cheers and Iggy turns his head to wink at them. I hit him in the head and move on. He sticks his tongue out at me. I point at him during the next line with a raised eyebrow and a smirk curving my lips up.

_We'll be running down the street, yelling "Kiss my ass!"_  
_I'm like yeah whatever, we're still living like that_  
_When the sun's going down, we'll be raising our cups_  
_Singing, here's to never growing up_

I stand beside Nudge as she plays standing up at the keyboard.

_Oh whoa, oh whoa, here's to never growing up_  
_Oh whoa, oh whoa, here's to never growing up_

We sing the next verse together.

_We live like rock stars, dance on every bar_  
_This is who we are, I don't think we'll ever change (hell no!)_  
_They say just grow up, but they don't know us_  
_We don't give a fuck, and we're never gonna change_

_Say, won't you stay forever stay_  
_If you stay forever hey_  
_We can stay forever young_

We do a hip bump and I move on.

_Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs_  
_With the boom box blaring as we're falling in love_  
_Got a bottle of whatever, but it's getting us drunk_  
_Singing, here's to never growing up_

_We'll be running down the street, yelling "Kiss my ass!"_  
_I'm like yeah whatever, we're still living like that_  
_When the sun's going down, we'll be raising our cups_  
_Singing, here's to never growing up_

I wrap my arms around Gazzy from behind as he plays the drums. I tickle him in the stomach until he jerks his elbow back, hitting me in the ribs. I lean down and kiss his cheek before I straighten up and make my way back to the front of the stage. I hear him laughing behind me.

_Oh whoa, oh whoa, here's to never growing up_  
_Oh whoa, oh whoa, here's to never growing up_

_Say, won't you stay forever stay_  
_If you stay forever hey_  
_We can stay forever young_

_Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs_  
_With the boom box blaring as we're falling in love_  
_I got a bottle of whatever, but it's getting us drunk_  
_Singing, here's to never growing up_

I reach into the crowd and grip so many hands I lose count.

_We'll be running down the street, yelling "Kiss my ass!"_  
_I'm like yeah whatever, we're still living like that_  
_When the sun's going down, we'll be raising our cups_  
_Singing, here's to never growing up_

_Oh whoa, oh whoa, here's to never growing up_  
_Oh whoa, oh whoa, (yeah raise your glass and say) here's to never growing up_  
_Oh whoa, oh whoa, (da de da de da) here's to never growing up (no we're never growing up)_  
_Oh whoa, oh whoa, here's to never growing up_

The music cuts off and I laugh in exhilaration. We do three more songs. I sing one more, Fang sings one, And we all do one together.

We get to back stage and I'm breathless but smiling. It is the first day of our tour and it went better than any of us thought. I hug Fang and each of the band members in my adrenaline high.

We are all laughing and smiling as the stage hands scurry around. Well, except Fang. He's not laughing, but he does smile. And he laughed once! Okay so maybe he was laughing at _me_ when I tripped over an electrical cord, knocking over a speaker, then falling into the dessert table, making it collapse under my weight. There was cake and icing all over me.

I stand up coated in the stuff, licking it off of my fingers. So yes, I can see why even _Fang_ would be doubled over in laughter.

Iggy walked up and licks some off my cheek. "Mmmm. Chocolate."

I shove him, grinning, and he slips, landing right in the delicious mess. He scoops up a hand full and flings it at me from where he sits. Ducking, I hear it go splat behind me.

I turn my head and see Fang wiping the gunk off his face. He isn't laughing now.

Gazzy is cackling and Nudge is covering her mouth, trying to hide her giggles unsuccessfully.

My eyes shine. "Dessert fight!" Gazzy shouts gleefully, running at the smeared mess on the wooden planks. He falls to his knees, sliding across the slick floor. He grabs fist fulls and starts flinging as Fang and I rush forward.

Nudge covers her head while saying, "Not my hair, not my hair, not my hair, not my hai-" a red velvet cupcake squishes into her perfect curls. We all freeze as Nudge's eyes blaze.

"You got it in my hair!" She glares at Iggy. "That's it." She darts forward and we are all shouting and laughing. No one tries to stop us. In fact, almost every body is on the sides doing there best to stay out of the range of fire.

"What the hell is going on?!"

The five of us face plant, then we are scrambling to our feet and standing at attention. Our manager, Janie, stands at the edge of the coated floor with two open-mouthed girls. They each have a backstage pass hanging around their necks and look no older than twelve years old.

"Max!" Janie immediately looks at me.

I clear my throat loudly. "Well, you see... I kind of tripped, so..." I tail of. Carrot cake slides down the side of my face and lands at my feet with a loud plop. I wince.

I turn to the girls quickly. "Hello, I'm max." I hold out my hand before thinking better of it and return it to my side. "What's up?" I smile.

Then they start to laugh. "This is awesome." One whispers to the other, looking around at everything.

"I know." The other replies just as excited.

I glance at Janie as I bend over and whisper in Fang's ear. Then I sniff like I'm about to cry. The girl's eyes widen in confusion.

"Fangy." I whine. "When I tripped, I hurt my elbow." I stiff again, holing my arm.

Jane closes her eyes. "Oh no."

I smile. "I want a hug." Fang wraps his arms around me, pulling me into his chest. "Not enough." The flock giggles, catching on, and pulls me into a group hug. "Not enough."

"Oh no." Janie groans again. I look at her.

"Can I have a hug?"

"No."

"You're gonna make me cry." My eyes water as the group shuffles forward.

"_No._" Her eyes are still closed and she rubs her temple.

I smile. "To bad." The group encloses him in a jumble of arms and bodies, wiping as much dessert as we can on her expensive suit. We pull away laughing.

The girls were video taping it on their smart phones that will no doubt be on YouTube by the day's end. "Can we get a picture?"

Um sure, if you don't mind covered in cake. You can't sue us though." I reply.

One girl steps forward and wants to take one with Gazzy. He stands there awkwardly, not wanting to get food all over her. She doesn't seem to care as she her scrawny arms around hi skinny frame with a big smile. reassured, he wraps his arms around her too. Both of them have big smiles for the camera, though Gazzy has a blush coating his cheeks. The top of the girl's head comes up to his shoulder.

The other girl wants a picture with Nudge and I both. We stand on either side of her with wide smiles. When the picture is about to be snapped, we both lean down and plant a kiss on her cheeks as the camera flashes.

When they leave, saying thank you a million times, Iggy smirks down at Gazzy.

"Gazzy's got fangirls, Gazzy's got fangirls." He sings, poking him in the cheek.

"More than you. Gazzy should really give you his secrete." Nudge says poking _him_ in the cheek. Nudge's head only comes up to his collar bone but she's pretty tall for her age considering she's only fourteen.

He scowls. "I'll have you know, I have plenty of fangirls." He raises his chin in defiance.

"Yeah. All of which are flies that fly around your reeking pits." Fang says in his quiet rumble of a voice. I used to make fun of him for it, but now it sounds nice. It suits him.

I snort. "I'm gonna take a shower before _I_ have flies flying around my pits." I sigh. "There is cake in places no cake should ever be."

"The only place cake should be, Max, is in your mouth." Janie says.

I glance back at her. "Yet it's everywhere except there."

"And who's fault is that? In the future Max, don't trip."

"I wont." I turn back around and come face to face with a wall. There is a quick intake of breath as I quickly jump to the side to avoid it. A quick smile of triumph crosses my face before I take a step backward and hit an amp. I pitch backwards and knock over another spot light.

I hit the ground with a thud. "Damniiiiit." I moan. "Starting now."

I hear multiple sighs and then I'm being lifted up and thrown over a shoulder.

"Fang!" I squeak. "Put me down! What are you doing?!"

"Making sure you make it to the bathroom alive." Came his reply.

Every step he takes makes my head slam into his back. My palms press into his spine, trying to push myself up, failing miserably.

"I hope you're not planing to stay in the bathroom with me."

"Only if you want me to." I can almost feel his smile.

I hear a squeal behind me and glare at the source. "Damn you Nudge. Not a word. You too Iggy, I see you smiling."

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**Kay, so the song is "Here's to Never Growing Up" by Avril Lavigne.**

**If you liked it, see you next chapter.**

**-Fantasy**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, what's up? The post is up, so I hope you enjoy. A little fluff for you but nowhere near satisfactory I say.**

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Five years ago (10 years old)

"Fang's got a girlfriend, Fang's got a girlfriend!" I sing, dancing around him while he pulled on pants.

"She's not my girlfriend. I'm just going to the movies with her family. I don't even like her; mom is making me go." He looks at me though the hair that constantly falls into his face. "And would you please get _out_?!" He says in his high-pitched kid voice.

"Why?" I stop dancing and stand in front of him with my hands on my hips like the way I always see my mother do when she teases me. "It's not like I haven't ever seen you naked. We used to take baths together!"

"Yeah, when we were like, six."

"I saw you naked just last week when you decided to go streaking down the street."

"That's different!" He defends. "And I didn't _decide_ to do that, you dared me to." He pulls on a black button up polo shirt.

"Naked is still naked. And so what if it was a dare? I still did it."

"That's besides the point. You're getting completely off topic."

"Nu-uh. You are."

"Nu-uh."

"Yu-huuuuu."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Stop it! You're confusing me." He fumbles with the tie for his neck. "I don't even remember what we were talking about."

"Good." I step forward and tie it easily. "How do you not even know how to tie a tie? You're a boy, you should know this stuff."

"You're so sexist."

"I bet you don't even know what that means." I cross my arms.

He is silent. "Exactly."

His mom then calls for him to come down, saying that they are here to pick him up.

He sighs and looks at me. "Bye."

"Just don't forget about me kay?"

He smirks. "I couldn't forget about you if I tried. You're like a thorn in my foot."

I smile and shove him toward the door, making him stumble. "Go. Your _girlfriend_ is waiting for you."

He scowls at me.

Now

"Fang!" I screech as he barrels off the tour bus with me thrown carelessly over his shoulder. The bus is parked in two lanes in a parking lot, in front of nice hotel we will be spending the night in. "Fang, put me down! We're in public!" We were getting a lot of stares as I bang on his back with my fists, and the rest of the band piling out of the bus behind us. There are many flashes from cellphones with pictures that will no doubt be all over the internet in about five minutes.

"Aaaaand, now people are taking pictures. fan-freaking-tastic." I give up struggling and rest my chin in my hand, using Fang's back as a support.

"Hey Fang, over here! Toss her to me!" Iggy shouts from ten feet away. I feel a shift in the shoulder underneath me and I clutch at the back of the shirt tightly.

"Fang, no. God so help me Fang, if you throw me I swear-" I never get to finish as a gasp escapes my parted lips and there is a weightless moment. I flail my arms in that one second that felt like minutes before I hit something hard, forcing air from my lungs.

There is a grunt beside my ear as the realization that I didn't just die sinks is.

I kick out and roll from Iggy's arms. I try to land on my feet but my legs feel weak so I fall to the ground on my hands and knees, rocks cutting into my pale skin.

Fang comes walking up with a smile, rubbing his arm like it's sore. "You weigh a ton. What have you been eating, bricks?"

I drag myself to my feet and glare at him. "Why?" I question, punching his shoulder as hard as I can. "Your head missing some?" He winces and rubs it for real.

"Ow. That hurts you know."

"You know what else would have hurt? Slamming into the ground after being thrown ten feet." I wasn't really angry. It was actually kind of fun and I was tempted to ask to go again. But that wouldn't go very well with my pride to I just continued to glare.

"Okay, okay. Sorry."

I resist the urge to smile and push past him after rolling my eyes.

"Oooo, you got in trou-ble." I hear Iggy singing behind me. There is the sound of skin hitting skin and air escaping the lungs, followed by a wheeze.

"Shut up." I hear Fang's grumbled reply.

"You're not even angry, are you." Nudge accuses when I walk up to stand beside her.

I wink. She sighs.

By now, people and the paparazzi have gathered in front the building. Janie is doing the best she can to keep them at bay but she is only one human and a reporter slips through. A mike is shoved into my face and I hear a jumble of words. I flinch away from the bright flashing lights.

"What?"

As the reporter repeats the question, I meet our manager's eyes.

"Go!" She shouts. "Meet me at the restaurant we discussed on the way here!"

"Flock, assemble!" I call doing my Avengers pose. More flashes went off. Our band name is technically The Fallen Angels, but everyone calls us The Flock.

Once the Flock has, you know, flocked together I say, "Iggy, smoke bomb go!" all dramatically like superhero or something. Do superheros even use smoke bombs? I think Batman does but I don't count him as a superhero. He doesn't have any cool powers and his motive to do good is revenge. I mean, what are they trying to teach kids these days?

Iggy grins and pulls a small device out of nowhere and throws it at the ground. Smoke starts billowing out of it until the entire street is covered in a green mist.

Immediately, people start choking.

"You grabbed the stink bomb, idiot!" Gazzy yells unaffected by the smell. He's probably used to gaseous scents because of his own toxic farts.

"Gas. Mask!" Iggy gags dramatically holding his neck, similar to what he does when his best friend lets one rip.

"Doesn't matter." I gasp trying not to breath in the green fog. "They're distracted. Run." And they were distracted. They were to busy covering their noses with their hand or shirts to notice us.

We sprint down the sidewalk, dodging gagging joggers. By the time the mist clears and stink begins to fade, we are slipping inside a dark alleyway that is piled with trash. We slip on hats and sunglasses, and I have to blink against the sudden dim lighting. There is graffiti covering the brick walls and an orange slim that I don't want to know the substance of.

"Lets go." I say in what I think of as a deep spy voice. "Ba da da da da da dada, ba da da da da dada. Batman!" I sing, pressing my back into the damp wall and peaking around the corner.

I wave them forward and move to step out of my hiding spot. "Baba, baba, batma- eep!" I squeak as I trip over a rusted trashcan, making a lot of noise. I flail my arms at my side before I can catch myself.

"Not a word." I demand pointing at Fang and Iggy before continuing out of my hiding spot.

"I don't see how you have never faceplanted on stage with all those dance moves and your clumsiness." Gazzy says.

"Hush, or you'll jinx it!" Nudge hisses at him.

"Luck." I answer. "A lot of luck." We continue walking.

By the time we circle back around to the bus, the people have dispersed. We enter a restaurant across the street and I glance around. Without a word, I sit down at a table in the back. Iggy sits closest to the window on the left side of me and Fang sits on my right side. Nudge sits across from Fang, Gazzy across from Iggy. A minute later, Janie sits down across from me in her high heels and expensive skirt.

"Sup." I nod at her with a smile stretched across my face.

She sends a glare at Iggy and I can just smell the lingering of Iggy's present on her cloths. I do a weird snort laugh thing and cross my arms.

"I could be better." She replies with a pointed look at you know who.

"Sorry!" Iggy defends. "I mixed them up. Just be lucky it wasn't an itching powder bomb. I have mixed them up before, and trust me, your day would _really_ be sucking."

A waitress comes to our table and we order or drinks.

I reach across the table and grab a hand full of sugar packets. Without thinking, I hand one to Fang, simultaneously opening one for myself. I pour it into my mouth and smile as the sugar turns to a sweat paste in my mouth. I open another packet and empty the contents. Fang automatically reaches for another one off my pile. I reach for another one.

My leg starts to bounce.

I look up and notice everyone staring at us. I have just emptied my eighth packet, Fang, his 5th, and I'm bouncing in my seat now, unable to sit still. Fang's foot taps the slightest bit.

"What?" I eat another.

I feel Fang's hand rest on my knee, silently telling me to be still. I stop slightly.

"Hey Max, look." Iggy point at something out the window. I can't help but get up to look.

"Awe, you missed it. Someone was on the roof." My head whips around to face Janei.

"Can I go on the roof?"

"No." Can her immediate reply. "Absolutely not."

"Fang would come with me." I plead.

"No." She sends another glare in Iggy's direction.

I pout but sit back down, opening another sugar packet. I dump it in my mouth but instead of it turning into a sweet paste, It stays crystallized and gritty.

Salt.

I spew the contents from my mouth, all over my manager.

"Iggy!" We both yell, realizing his reasoning for the window distraction.

He's doubled over in laughter so I kick his chair, hard, and he tip over sideways.

"Oh my god! What happened?" The waitress says with our drinks in hand. "Is he okay?"

She sets them down on the table and rushes forward to help but I wave her off.

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's fine. He just prefers the floor."

Suddenly my chair tips backward too and it has nothing to do with my clumsiness. I can't contain a gasp and my arms flail, groping for something to grab on to. I hit the ground with a thud. "Faaaaang." I groan.

"She likes the ground too." He says to the waitress and she blushes. We order our food and I am the first to pull myself off the ground.

"You need a girlfriend." I tell him. "Maybe she could teach you how to treat a girl."

He raises an eyebrow. "You offering?" I punch him in the arm and he laughs. "Besides, _you_ are already my girlfriend."

Now I raise an eyebrow and ignore the squeal I hear come from Nudge. "Am I now? Now this is new to me."

"Are you not my friend?"

"I'm pretty sure I am."

"And... You're a girl aren't you? Unless there is something I should know about."

"I'm a girl and you know it. You've seen me naked enough times to know that answer." I hear someone choke on their drink. I think it was Janie.

"Then there you go. You're my girlfriend."

I roll my eyes.

"This is disgusting." Gazzy groans.

I look at him confused. "What is?"

"Their flirting is not disgusting. I think it's adorable." Nudge says with a little swoon.

"We are _not_ flirting." Fang and I say at the same time.

I throw my head back and groan. Nudge giggles.

"You're so flirting." Says Iggy, finally dragging himself off the floor. It's luck that this restaurant doesn't have many costumers because everyone would be staring. Our odd group naturally pulls attention.

The waitress comes back and sets the food down in front of the respective person. I see here keep glancing at Fang and I smile as an idea comes to mind.

I elbow my best friend. "I think I just found you a girlfriend."

He raises his eyebrows but doesn't respond. When she comes back with the bill and is about to leave, I stop her. "Hey, what's your name?" I ask.

Her eyes dart to Fang, then away. "Kaylin." Her voice is soft and shy.

"My friend here really likes you." I put my hand on Fang's shoulder and I feel him stiffen. "He's to shy to say anything though. He wants to know if you'll go on a date with him tonight."

"Max." He says in a warning voice.

"S-sure!" Kaylin squeaks.

"Great!" I exclaim, ignoring Fang's silent protests. "You can meet him at the fancy restaurant down the street from here at seven. Wear something fancy. He will pay for you."

"Okay." she scurries away.

I laugh. "I just got Fang a girlfriend, I just got Fang a girlfriend!"

He shoves me a little and I almost fall out of my seat again. "I'm not wearing a suit."

"Oh yes you are. Even if I have to wrestle you into it, and you know I'm going to win."

Janie sighs.

* * *

"Don't make me pants you." I warn Fang as he dodges yet another attempt of me getting him to put on the black slacks.

"Where did you even get a suit?" He asks jumping around me again, going for the door.

"I bought it a while ago for when you actually got a girlfriend."

He looks at me like I'm crazy, witch of course he's right. "What are you, my mom?"

"I might as well be." I lunge again and grab hold of his pant leg. He tries to run but trips when he can't pull his leg free and falls to the ground on the hotel floor. I tug and his sweat pants slip off his legs, leaving him in his boxers.

"Put the pants on!" I shove them at him but he tries to crawl away so I grab him by the ankle and pull him toward me. I sit on his chest, shoving the pants in his face.

"You know, I kind of like this position." He pulls a perverted face and I scowl at him.

"Put them on!"

"Janie!" He yells. "Janie, Max is trying to rape me!" The rest of the flock is down stairs raiding the hotel snack bar and Janie is down the hall doing who knows what, though when she hears Fang's yell, I hear her rushing foot steps. Though I don't know how she couldn't have heard his yell, the whole hotel must have.

"I am not!" Janie come rushing through the door using a key card, but stop when she sees us on the ground.

"You actually believed him?" If I were in an anime, I would have sweat dropped.

"Max is trying to rape me!" He says again, probably just to annoy me.

"Shut up." I slap him in the face with the pants I'm trying to force him into. Janie rubs her temple.

"Make him put the suit on." I whine like a little kid.

She sighs. "Fang, just put on the stupid suit."

"Fine." He says easily, taking the slacks out of my hand.

"Really?" I ask in surprise. "Sweet." I get off of him and watch as he tugs them on. "By the way, I'm taking you to the restaurant so you don't ditch the poor girl.

He groans as I walk out of the room.

I snicker.

"And Max, in the future, please don't try to rape your band mates." Janie says from behind me.

"I wasn't trying to rape him!" When I turn around to face her head on, I see her smiling so I do the mature thing and stick my tongue out at her.

* * *

We, Fang and I, stand in front of the restaurant and he turns to face me. I have to cover my mouth to contain my laugh. His tie is all messed up. I reach up and start to fix it.

"It's been _six years_ and you still can't tie a tie?"

"That's what I have you for."

"You do know I won't always be here. We will grow up and you'll get married. With my luck, I'd probably trip off a cliff by the time I'm twenty." I smirk.

"Then I'll have to jump off to save you. Besides, even if I get married, You will still always come first."

"You'd make a terrible husband." My lingering hands come down to rest at my sides.

He smiles. "Terrible." He puts a large hand on my head and kisses my hair. It's not an intimate gesture, just affectionate. Brotherly almost, though my heart gives a strange tug. "I'm still mad at you for making me do this though." He says pulling away and walking though the restaurant doors.

"You know you love me!" I call after him.

He winks. "Always!" I can't help but laugh as he disappears into the building.

* * *

**Leave your comments or suggestions bellow with a review. All criticism is welcome, criticism means, people actually read my story and I can make it better. Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors, I have never been very good at that stuff.**

**Good luck and the best to you. Until next time.**

**-Fantasy**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi-ya! This is the next chapter, and thanks for all the great reviews. You guys are awesome.**

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Four years ago (11 years old)

"Fang, hurry up! We were supposed to be back home twenty minutes ago!" I say as Fang walks luxuriously behind me.

"Chill, it's not like we will get in trouble. We are usually an hour late. Right now, we are early." His voice had lost the high pitch of a child but is now young and boyish. His body is thin and lanky but a little muscled from playing JV basketball. I always hear girls talking about him but I can never understand why they have a crush on him.

I look at him now, really look, and I can see it. He is kind of beautiful with his raven black hair and obsidian eyes. If you look closely, they have gold flecks. I had noticed this long ago though.

They shine at me now in the growing darkness. Yes I can see why.

But to me, he's still just my best friend, nothing more. I can't see him as anything else.

He's still a little shorter than me, I realize then. That makes me smile.

"You're such a slow poke." But I fall into step next to him. We lapse into a comfortable silence as I listen to the quiet fall of our footsteps. I close my eyes and let my head fall back, face facing the stars that are coming out.

The quiet lasts a while until Fang breaks it with his warning. "Max, watch out!" I run straight into a light pole. I clutch my forehead and rock back and forth on my butt while saying words that would get my mouth washed out with soap if my mother heard.

"Ahhhhh. Ow, damn it. Damn my clumsiness."

"That has nothing to do with clumsiness. That was just pure _stupidity_, walking with your eyes closed like that. You're bound to run into something."

I glare up at him.

"Shut up shorty." He scowls.

An explosion interrupts his response and I quickly scramble to my feet. To the left of us is a wide expanse of field. You can just see the tips of a dying flame. My fingers find the edge of Fang's shirt and tug.

"Let's go check it out." My voice escapes in a whisper.

He nods and is first to step off the sidewalk. I follow after him and then pass him. I see a slope down and jog forward, leaving my best friend behind. "Max!" He hisses. "Max, get back here!"

I continue forward until I am stumbling down the hill and into the open space.

Standing in the rubble of some object is a boy my age with strawberry blond hair that turns pink in the fading sun. Beside him is a younger boy, eight maybe, with bright blond hair.

Fang stumbles to my side and grasps onto my upper arm. "_Max_!" He stops when he sees the kids and falls silent.

They turn to us and the older one smiles. "Sup? I'm Iggy."

The younger one smiles then, big and wide. "I'm Gazzy." His voice is a tiny squeak.

Now

"So, how did the date go?" I ask looking up from the book I am reading as soon as Fang Steps through the hotel door.

He shoots me a glare and stands there for a moment before relenting with a sigh. He throws himself down onto the random bed in front of me. He lays his chin on his folded hands as he looks up at me through his hair.

"Horrible."

"What did you do?"

He glares at me again and shifts up onto his elbows and loosens his tie. "What makes you think I did something?"

"Well, you're..." I gesture wildly at him. "...you."

"Thanks." He deadpans. "That makes me feel so much better." He stands up from his spot and starts stripping off the suit until he's down to his boxers. Then he flops back down in his previous spot on the bed, cloths already forgotten in some corner.

"Anyway, a bunch of people just kept coming up to me, asking for an autograph. It was just terrible."

"Damn. Maybe next time."

"No. Absolutely not. You are not forcing me to go on another date with some stranger."

I pout. "It's not my fault you keep screwing it up."

"Screwing what up?" Iggy says walking in with wind-swept hair. Janie had taken them to the park but I decided to hang back and wait for Fang to come back from his date.

"Fang screwed up on his date with Crystal."

"Kaylin."

"What ever." I wave off the correction.

Iggy snort/laughs. "They screwed?"

My face heats up in a deep blush from the image that pops into my head. "That's not what I meant and you know it." My heart pounds.

"Well, what if they did?" He grins, enjoying my reaction.

I squirm uncomfortably.

"Knock it off Igs. You know as well as I that that's not true." Fang scowls.

"Yeah, I bet they didn't even kiss." Gazzy teases.

"No, Fang doesn't have the balls to kiss a girl." I say.

"Besides, he looooooves you." Nudge says bending forward and making a heat with her hands.

My face has gone back to its normal shade so I swing off the bed I am on and flop onto Fang's instead. I sling my around his naked waist now and his arm automatically comes around me.

"You know it." I smirk.

Nudge's face heats up and she starts to squeal while fanning her face with a hand.

"Okay, enough." Janie steps forward. Durring this whole confrontation, her face has been getting steadily red, but now it has gone down to a pink flush. "We need to figure out sleeping arrangements since you five insisted on getting one room, and not even a suite even though you can afford it I might add." She takes a deep breath. "So what's going to happen? Obviously I'm getting my own bed."

I take around the hotel room for the first time.

It's a pretty big room with a little ten by ten kitchen. There is a small bathroom across from it and a window on the far side of the room with the certain drawn. There are four beds along one wall, each evenly spaced by two and a half feet, and a Flat screen TV on the opposite wall. The TV sits on a large desk with drawers.

I didn't see a problem with the room. I have seen worse.

After my quick assessment, I pull Fang to the bed closest to the window. "Fang and I are sleeping here."

I flop down on the bed, leaving Fang leaning against the window frame.

"No." Janie says. "You're not sleeping with a boy."

"Why not?" I sit up curiously. "We always sleep together."

"Because I am responsible for you and I don't want... things to happen. Why can't you sleep with Nudge?" She crosses her arms awkwardly.

"Because she kicks in her sleep and I wake up with large bruises, on the ground, or both. I can't sleep with Gazzy for obvious reasons, or at least they're obvious to me, and I can't sleep with Iggy for fear that he might do something to me. You already claimed a bed to yourself and, not to be rude or anything, but I wouldn't want to sleep in the same bed as a woman I barely know. That's just weird. And by 'things' if you mean sex then no. Fang and I don't have that kind of relationship, not to mention there will be four other people in the room." I take a deep breath. "Any other questions?"

"..." She's silent for a moment. "You're not sleeping with Fang." I roll my eyes.

"Fine." Fang says, apparently tired of listening to the argument. He kicks off the window. "I'll sleep on the floor. It's no big deal."

"That works too." I point at him without taking my eyes off of my manager.

She finally nods in consent and fang grabs a pillow and lays next to my claimed bed.

We all lay down and someone turns off the lights. As soon as It's dark I pull back the covers and a body slides in next to mine. Our backs press together like always. A content smile plays across my lips.

_I hope the nightmares don't hit tonight_, I think. But they always do.

* * *

"Ready?" Janie asks as a stage hand adjusts my mike.

I grin and give a thumbs up. I can hear the crowd roar through the curtain and it makes my blood pulse with energy induced adrenaline. Stage hands clear the space as we get into position and the curtain begins to open.

I start to bounce on the balls of my feet in the beginning of a high, and when I can see the crowd, I raise a hand above my head in a greeting.

"Hey guys, what's up? How's everyone doin' tonight?"

I get many answers but all I can hear is a roar in my ears. I turn to the band and in exaggerated exasperation say, "Well say hello. They are your fans you know." I turn to the crowd acting worried. "You are fans right?"

I get a bunch of 'no's mixed with laughter.

I widen my eyes. "Really? You're not? Well I guess we should come back another time then..." I make my voice sound sad and I start to walk off stage but a bunch of screaming makes me stop and look at the fans.

"What's that? Oh, so you are fans. That's great! Say hello to your fans guys."

"Sup." Comes Fang's one word greeting.

"Hi-ya!" Nudge says with a wave and bounce.

"How's it goin'?" Iggy.

Twelve year old Gazzy says, "Hey."

His voice cracks and he slaps his hands over his mouth. I double over laughing and the audience joins in not a second later.

"Ooo, someone is going through puberty." I tease. "Watch out ladies." I warn and I swear I see some people faint. There was a guy too.

Gazzy glares at me with fading pink cheeks.

"Alright, enough chit-chat. You guys ready?" There are screams. "Alrighty then."

We start to play.

* * *

I come off the stage panting and make it to the dressing room without tripping, amazingly. When I walk out in my jeans and hoodie, I find everyone already changed, in the main commons room.

"Max, come over here for a sec." Janie waves me over.

I take my time and stop and the sweets table for chocolate chip cookies. I frown at them. Still not as good as mom's. Without a word, I hand one to Fang. Not surprisingly, he eats it in silence.

Janie was tapping her foot in annoyance. "As I was saying to everyone else, you guys have an interview tomorrow so we are staying in the city again."

"Interview?" I question.

"Well, you're kind of going to be on live TV."

"Great. So Max can embarrass us all by destroying the entire set with one single trip." I scowl at Iggy.

"I'm more concerned about you and Gaz blowing something up." Nudge pipes in.

I roll my eyes and silently agree with Iggy. You can't trust me with I front of a camera. Some how I always end up screwing up even more. I glance at Fang and know that he's thinking the same thing. Janie sighs.

"Well, go do what you want for the rest of the day. Just be back at the hotel by ten."

We all do a little fist pump and Gazzy shouts, "Yes! Freedom!" And we all laugh.

Then we fall silent.

"...So what do we do?"

"I have an idea." Iggy grins at the Gasman and I know we are probably going to get arrested.

We go to the zoo instead of what the pyromaniacs wanted to do because they wanted to wait until it get s dark. The zoo is Nudge's idea, a bad one at that, and we end up getting kicked out. I had ended up tripping over a churros and I went over the railing into the penguin exhibit. I was attacked by a bunch of black and white angry birds. Lucky they can't fly.

My so-called friends had a good laugh as I was chased around, freezing my ass off. So that is how the Fallen Angels were banned from the only zoo in the little city of Springdale Arkansas.

Then we went to laser tag, courtesy of Fang and I. We ended up teaming up on everybody. We won of course, partly because we used Iggy as a shield.

When the sun started going down, Iggy and Gazzy dragged us to a field. So we stood there with the two pyro brothers and four hours to spare.

"Bombs away!" Came a shout and I cover my ears. There is an explosion and the ground rocks beneath me. There is an exhilarated laugh from Iggy and he stares at the dying flame in utter joy. Gazzy stands to the side, watching with a big smile on his young face.

I can't help but smile as well. I end up giggling for no reason and I think that the smoke has gotten to me.

Then bright lights are on us and our laughter fades. We stand frozen and there is a cop on a megaphone.

"Freeze and put your hand where we can see them. You are under arrest for the use of explosives on privet property!"

"Shit." I curse under my breath.

* * *

**Dun dun duuuuun! Awesome right? Well I like so... Whatever.**

**See you next chap.**

**-Fantasy**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay, it's summer break for me! Yay...**

**I'm going to be so bored. Sigh. That means enough time to update on regularly... probably. They aren't going to be every day updates or every other day, but most likely within the week. I'm working on other stuff.**

**T****hanks for the reviews! Hope you like the next chapter.**

* * *

Eleven years ago (4 years old)

I tug on my six-year-old brother's shirt and he looks down at me a little annoyed. "What?" He asks. "I'm in the middle of a game." He glances back at the TV screen just as some zombie dude bites into his shoulder and Game Over comes up on the screen. "Dang it!"

He sighs and sits back against the couch. When he looks at me again, his eyes are softer. "What is it?" He asks brushing my bangs out of my face.

I crawl onto the couch beside him and tuck my body against his slightly larger frame.

"It's Fang's birthday tomorrow but I don't know what to get him. He'll think I forgot." I whine.

He sets his controller down on the table beside the armrest and hugs me to his body. "Well, why don't you make him something?"

"Like what?" I look up at him with my wide brown eyes. His blue ones look right back into mine and he smiles.

"I don't know. Maybe draw a picture, or make him a necklace or something?"

I scrunch up my tiny nose and stick my tongue out. "He's a boy, why would he want a necklace?" He shrugs.

"How about...something to do with music. You guys like music right?"

I nod vigorously. "We're going to form a band one day and be famous!"

"Okay, then write him a song."

"But I don't know how to write a song!" My eyes are wide and innocent.

"Well, if you're going to be famous you have to learn sometime."

I think for only for a second before I nod. "Okay! Can you help me though?"

"Why do you want my help?"

"Cause it has to be perfect!" I grin up at him and he smiles back affectionately.

"I'll have to watch out or he'll take you from me."

"Nu-uh, You're the best big brother in the world! I will always love you most!"

"You say that now, but wait till you start to date him."

"What does that mean?" I tilt my head to the side and stare up at him.

"It means-" He pulls my hair gently- "your going to fall in love with him and mary him like papa did with mama."

"I'm gonna mary him?" I ask.

"Yup. Just like mama and papa."

Now

"Easy, _easy_! I'm not goin anywhere!" I exclaim as I'm shoved into a holding cell at the police station. "Hey!" I call as the fat cop started to walk away. "Don't I get a phone call?"

He glances back before continuing his path away from me Nudge and Iggy.

Iggy's chuckling behind me.

"This isn't funny!" I turn on him. "We are _so_ in trouble, Janie will kill us. And of course she'll blame me because I'm the oldest, like always."

"Hey," he says lifting his hands in surrender, much like we did not twenty minutes ago with the cops. "I didn't know it was privet property!"

I still feel violated from the guy that patted me down. He spent a little too much time feeling up my chest and when I slapped him, I got punched in the jaw. It's red and starting to bruise. Its sends a jolt of pain through it when I speak but I don't let it show.

The sound of metal on metal makes me turn once more to the cell door. Fang's handcuffs are removed and fatty shoves him in. He stumbles forward before I steady him.

When his eyes fall on my face, his gaze is immediately pulled to my swelling cheek.

"What'd he do?" He demands in an angry voice. His finger tips graze my jaw and I flinch before I can stop myself. His eyes grow dark in furry and I put a hand on his arm to calm him down.

"It's nothing. Leave it alone."

His jaw tightens just the slightest bit. The bars are swung open again and Gazzy gets shoved in, cackling.

He and Iggy high five. I hear a sniff come from Nudge and I see her eyes watering.

"Are we going to jail? I don't want to go to jail, I can't go to jail. Do you know how bad that would look on a college resumé? Terrible, that's how. Not to mention all the big dudes that would pick on a small girl like me. I mean, at least Max would survive because she's tough and got Fang, But I would be beaten to a pulp!"

"Nudge!" I call, interrupting her rambling. "We're not going to jail. We're minors, and Janie will bail us out. Don't worry."

She nods and Iggy wraps an arm around she shoulders. She leans into him much like I'm leaning into Fang. Gazzy glances around, then leans against the bars of our 'cage'.

A female cop comes to the bars of our cell and I pull away from my best friend. "What brings you to the door of our lovely..." I glance at the bench by the wall and the one toilet in the open. I grimace. "home."

She ignores me and takes us all in. "Who will be making the phone call?"

We are silent, none of us wanting to be the one to tell our manager, but none of us wanting to stay locked up.

Fang sighs. "I guess that would be me."

Miss. Cop Lady opens the door and grabs hold of Fang's bicep, leading him out of view.

I sigh and plop down onto the hard bench. I groan and put my head in my hands. Five minutes later, Fang comes back looking exhausted. His hair is messed up and looks like he ran his hand through it many times in the last few minutes. My heart stutters for a second.

"How was she?" Iggy asks, no longer finding the situation funny. He might be irresponsible and not care much about authority, much like all of us, but he knows enough to be scared of Janie. She might be a small woman but she can be terrifying.

"Pissed." He says simply.

"No surprise there." Gazzy says and I nod in agreement.

"Did you catch the time?" I ask since they took my watch.

He gives me a grave look. "10:04."

"Greaaat." I draw out. "Not only are we arrested, but we're late for curfew. Awesome, peachy, magnificent. Wake me up when the demon arrives." I stretch out across the bench and despite the hardness of it, I fall asleep easily.

* * *

I don't wake up to yelling as I expect I would, which is worse. Nudge shakes me awake at 10:48 and I see a guard open the cell for us. This time though, he doesn't put the handcuffs back on us.

We file out like the good little prisoners we are and into the office building. Janie is standing at a desk filling out paper work. She doesn't even glance our way.

When she finishes, she finally looks at us, but still says nothing.

She snaps her fingers and points to the door. We keep our heads down and stay silent as well.

When we get back to the hotel and the door closes, she finally speaks. "You guys are lucky that the family whose yard you decided to blow up is a big fan of the Fallen Angels. They decided to not press charges so I gave them an autographed picture of each of you and back stage passes to your next concert."

I step forward, knowing I should say something. "Listen, Janie I-"

"Go to bed!" She points at the beds, throwing off her shoes and jacket.

We don't bother changing cloths as we go to our sleeping spaces. I slip into bed with Fang, our backs pressed together.

Janie doesn't say anything again.

* * *

I wake up at about 3:30am with a gasp and a gag. I drag myself to the edge of the bed and throw up into the little trashcan beside it. I gag more after that as sweat glistens on my forehead and shoulders, tears running down my cheeks.

I feel Fang's hand on my back, rubbing circles, and I relax slightly. Red still blots my vision from my dream and I wipe at my cheeks.

I grab the water bottle off the night stand and swish my mouth before spitting it out. I climb out of bed and strip off my sweat soaked cloths until I'm just in my bra and underwear, and slide back in next to Fang. I turn and bury my head in my best friend's chest, his arms going around me.

"Nightmares?" He asks. I nod and he sighs, pulling us down deeper into the sheets. He knows about my nightmares, he just doesn't always wake up when I have them. He would just worry even more if he knew I have them every night.

He strokes my hair and I force my body to relax and slow my breathing. I listen to his stead heart beat and I let the drumming in my ears lull me into a restless sleep.

* * *

We get up early that morning and are at the studio by eight. It's some famous talk show or something and we have to get ready.

My stylist is in the middle of putting concealer under my eyes and bruised cheek and I keep nodding off.

"Max, what is with you? Did you not sleep last night?" Janie doesn't sound angry like the night before. It's more of a concerned tone. I jerk my head up from another almost nod off and sniff.

"Huh? Oh ah, no. Not very well. I had a nightmare." I say rubbing my eyes with a yawn.

She nods, not really knowing what to say.

She opens her mouth, but then we are being introduced and I have to get up and walk onto the stage. One by one, my band and I file onto the stage and sit down on the large couch.

By the time Fang comes on though, there is no room. He glances at Iggy who has his back to the arm rest and has his feet stretched out across the only open space. Fang seems to think it's not worth trying to move him.

His eyes fall on my lap, and then he plops down on top on me. I grunt at his sudden weight.

"Oh no, you are not sitting on me." I push as hard as I can and he falls tot the floor at my feet. He leans back against my leg and I roll my eyes. "You can't do this stuff on live TV." I hiss at him.

Our hostess, Susan I think, eyes us for a second, then turns to Iggy. "So we've heard some roomers about an arrest? Can you tell us about this?"

"Ha ha, well you see..."

"Iggy was being an idiot and wanted to blow stuff up on our free time. Us being the even _bigger_ idiots, followed him out to a field he claimed to be safe. Well turns out, that safe field was privet property. Long story short, police showed up, we got arrested, Janie picked us up. She was not happy is to say the least." I say I one breath.

"Have ever been arrested before this?" She asks.

Iggy speaks easily this time. "Actually yes. I had to spend a whole night in a cell with some drug dealer because I left a smoke bomb in a store, causing a huge panic. I was only caught because Nudge taddled on me."

"You deserved it. If you're never caught, you're never going to learn. Besides, I warned you I would if you did it."

He sticks his tongue out at her.

"What about the rest of you?" Susan tilts her head and looks at the rest of us.

"Well, you know what they say. 'A friend would bail you out of jail. But'..." I raise my finger.

"'A best friend would be sitting right next to you cursing out the world with you'." the Flock finishes together. It's kind of our modo. That and, 'if you're not fast enough to the food, you don't deserve to eat'.

"_So_..." Susan tails off, not knowing what our answer meant.

"Yes, we have been arrested one time or another. It was all Nudge's fault though. She decided hacking into the school computer and programing it to say, 'the cow goes moo' every five minutes would be fun."

"It was Gazzy's idea and we wouldn't have gotten caught if Iggy had only done what I told him to do."

Fang looks into the camera and says, "Don't try anything you hear us say at home or anywhere else. We are very bad role models but we have kind hearts." I snort and fingers pinch my leg. I yelp and rub it.

Susan looks amused. "So what's the most stupid thing you've ever done?" The question is directed at all of us.

"Hmm.. That's a hard one... Probably the time I decided to hand cuff Fang and Gazzy together after a taco night. Let's just say, when Fang got free, I was in a cast for six weeks. Do you know how hard it is to build a bomb with one hand?" Iggy rubs his wrist like he still remembers trying to build that bomb.

"So that's why Fang smelt like a sewage leak and you were all banged up." I muse. "Nice. I would have done the same." Fang taps his fist to mine.

Nudge goes next. "Mine was going to Iggy for advise about a boy. I mean, eww! I was thirteen Iggy!"

Thirteen year old Gazzy sits for a moment, thinking. "Everything I do can be defined as stupid." He shrugs.

"I should have never agreed to let Iggy play dress up with me. I looked like a Barbie from hell." I say rubbing a hand across my face.

"Max." Fang says.

"What?"

"The stupidest thing I have ever done was meet Max." I can _feel_ him grin as he leans back against my legs. "She's a pain in the ass but life would be way to boring without her." There were 'awe's from the crowd and I blush.

"Idiot." I mutter.

Susan looks at us, shaking her head. "How long have you and Fang been secretly dating?" I choke on my spit and hear Iggy fail at an attempt to hold in a laugh.

"_What?_ We're not dating, just friends."

"You seem to be awfully close."

"Well yeah, we've been best friends since we were kids, of course we're close."

"But when did it start to be more than friends?" She prompts leaning forward in her chair. I hear Iggy snickering beside me.

My palms are sweaty and my heart is oddly fast. "Sorry?"

"You mean you haven't seen it?" She reaches beside her chair and pulls out a magazine, handing it to me.

I can feel a terrible heat rushing to my face. On the front cover is Fang and I in our hotel bed. I'm curled up into his bare chest in my tank top and shorts and Fang in his boxers, arms wrapped around me.

I can see how bad this looks now.

I don't even want to look at the caption. "Shit." I turn to Iggy who is cracking up. "Iggy, when this is over, you better run for your life because I swear I will kill you. The only reason I'm not strangling you right now is because I don't want everyone watching this show, to be witnesses to your murder." He gulps and slouches in his seat.

Fang tugs the magazine from my hands and looks at it. He actually has the nerve to laugh.

"So tell me." Susan leans forward in her chair even more. "What is your relationship?"

I open my mouth but Fang beats me to it. "She's my girlfriend." I face palm. There are a bunch of squeals.

"I am not your girlfriend!"

"Are you a girl?"

"Oh my god. We are not having this conversation _again_. Yes, I'm a girl. Yes, I'm your friend. That does not make me your _girlfriend_."

He blinks up at me. "How?"

"Ugh! You have had a girlfriend _before_. You know what a girlfriend _is_. You just like to get on my nerves. Don't. Encourage them."

I turn to the hostess. "Listen, we are best friends and we have known each other since we were born. Our parents were best friend in high school so we grew up in two houses. Half the time we slept at my house, the other times at his house. We share everything, and yes, even beds. We were one short so we don't mind sharing." I finish my short rant.

I hear a snort beside me. "Not once in you life have you _not_ shared a bed." Nudge says. "Even when we have _extra_ beds, we wake up to you two curled up beside each other."

I turn my glare to her. "_Not helping._"

"Okay." Fang butts in. "Let's move on. I don't want to talk about our love life anymore."

"Oh my god." I throw my head back and groan.

"Hey Max, save it for the bed room."

"That's it!" I shoot to my feet. "I don't care if the entire world sees, I'm going to kill you." I take a step toward Iggy and I had never seen him move so fast.

He was out of his seat and screaming as I chased him. I tackle him to the ground and sit on his chest. I hear Janie yelling at me to get off of him, but then he opens his big ass mouth again.

"You see this Fang? Max is cheating on you!" I hear laughter all around me.

Then I'm being lifted off the colorful pyro as if I weigh nothing. Then I'm being carried away.

Fang sits down in my previous spot with me in his lap. His arms are locked around me meaning, I'm not going anywhere. I mentally curse Iggy, Fang, Susan, and the entire damn world.

I pout but lean back against his muscled chest.

Susan looks at us and shakes her head. "How are you not a couple? You certainly act like it."

I have calmed down immensely so I answer. "This idiot seems to think so, but I think he just likes to annoy me. He's just lonely because he can't keep a girlfriend for more than one date, let alone get a date without my help. He can't flirt his way out of a paper bag." He pinches me in the side and I yelp, slapping his hand away.

"I can't keep a girlfriend because I don't _want_ one."

"Ah, that's right. You still have that crush on someone back home."

He shrugs. "Somethin like that."

Susan turns to Iggy. "Do you have a special girl back home?"

He shakes his head. "Nope, no one."

She smiles a little. "I'm sure it wont be that hard to find one."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I like someone, it's just she doesn't like me back. Not many girls actually fall for a crazy pyro."

"That is true." Nudge nods in agreement.

Iggy's eyes darken.

"Well, what about you? Do you have someone special?"

Nudge shakes her head but her eyes flick to Iggy. I cover my mouth to keep in a squeal.

"Gazzy does though. He has a thing for Max's little sister."

My head jerks up. "He _what_?!"

Gazzy's face turns red, starting at his neck. "You promised you wouldn't tell!"

"_Sorry_."

"No you're not."

"I know."

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Please leave a review, let me know what you think.**

**Thanks for everything,**

**-Fantasy**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, guys. So this took longer than I thought, because I didn't have it already typed out. I hope you like it.**

* * *

Five years ago (10 years old)**  
**

"Fang, you're supposed to click here."

"I got this." His voice comes out annoyed.

"No, you're doing it wrong!" I shout, attempting to push him out-of-the-way. His hand comes up to my chest and shoves me back.

"I am not!" Just then the computer beeps and 'Error' flashes across the screen.

"Told ya so."

"You made me mess up. If you weren't so touchy grabby, I would have done it right."

"Let me see it." I say pushing him out of the rolly chair and taking his place in front of the blinking screen. "I think the internet said to do something like this." I type in a few coded words into the computer, trying my best to remember what to do from the guide to hacking computers site.

I press enter and a warning sign flashes on the bright blue screen.

"See, you did it wrong too! We only have one more try before the alarm goes off!"

"Hush! You're going to get us caught!" I hiss.

I set my fingers over the keyboard to try again for the final attempt to hack into the elementary school data base.

"You're doing it all wrong." A voice says behind me, making us both freeze. Hands reach through and type a few quick numbers. 'Welcome' comes up on the screen and the flashing stops.

"How did you..?" Fang trails off, going into his silent mode he does when other people are around.

We turn to look at the girl standing in the light of the screen, casting a long shadow behind her.

She has mocha colored skin and wide brown eyes. She looks younger than us, maybe by a year.

"You're going to prank the school right?" I nod.

"We were going to make the power turn off after announcements so we can get out of a test."

"You can't make the power go off from the computer. You will have to go to the power box for that. But if you want to get out of a test, setting the fire alarm to go off should work."

"...Oh, right... Ya that works."

She turns back the computer and clicks around the mainframe. "Done." She states, pulling back.

"So it will work?"

"Of course."

"Sweet, now we don't have to take our math test." Fang and I high-five.

"What's your name?"

Her eyes are wide and innocent. "Nudge."

"Why are you even here Nudge?"

"Well..."

Now

"Spill it. How long?" I demand as I pull the thin curtain shut between the sleeping area and the 'hang out' area. I climb onto the top bunk and hang my body over the edge to where I'm bent at the waist.

I stare at Nudge who is sitting on the bottom bunk, our faces a foot apart.

"How long what?" She asks casually. I'm probably saved from a longer rant as she takes a sip of cream soda.

"How long have you had a crush of Iggy?" She chokes and covers her mouth to keep from spewing it everywhere. A little leaks out from between her fingers and drips onto her leg. Her head snaps around looking to see if anyone heard but they are all in the other room- I guess there's no other word for it- horsing around.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She says avoiding my eyes.

"Bull. Just tell me." I whine. Okay, yes, I can be a girl _sometimes_. No one has to know though.

"Okay fine." She glances around. "I like him- but you can't tell him or anyone or my life will be completely ultra megaly over. Our friendship will be ruined and I'll never be able to talk to him again and I'll be kicked out of the band and I'll never see you again!"

"Geezum, calm down!" I say and smile. "I don't think your entire life will be over from some little school girl crush. Besides, I think you two would make a cute couple. I mean, he's better than some random guy, even if he _is_ obnoxious."

"You better not interfere!" She hisses at me.

I grin.

"What about you and Fang?" She smirks.

"What about us?"

"Yoou looove him!" She sings with a laugh. "And if you meddle with me, I'm going to get you and Fang together, though it's not like I wasn't going to do that in the first place."

"I don't like Fang that way. He's always just been my best friend. _Just_ my best friend. There has never, and will never, be something between us."

"You say that now, but we can all see it coming. You are such an adorable couple and you are practically already a couple. You already sleep together, and not that way cause I know you're thinking it, but in a more innocent way. I _so_ ship it. You two are my very top OTP, even more that Natsu and Lucy or Soul and Maka, and I just love those parings." She squeals at the last part and I roll my eyes.

"Fine, do what ever. It's not going to change a thing." I sigh.

Gazzy pokes his head through the curtain then. "Janie says we are leaving tonight."

"Okay." I get up and pull the drape aside. "Hey guys, we are going out for pizza tonight while Janie takes care of her stuff."

Iggy and Gazzy whoop but I stop them. "And Gazzy is going to start on his summer homework so he doesn't start failing the eighth grade as soon as school starts.

"What?! So not fair." He grumbles.

"Life's not fair. Suck it up buttercup, we'll bring you back a slice." I tell him and ruffle his fair hair.

He scowls and tries to flatten it. Hints the word _tries_.

"Since it's only 3:00, can we do something fun? _Please_?" Nudge asks.

"Ah..."

"Sure."

"Fang I really don't think that's a good idea." I say.

"And why is that?"

"Because she has it in her head that she has to get us together."

"..."

"Exactly."

"Oh this could get interesting. What do you have in mind?" Iggy asks.

"Truth or dare."

"No." I say automatically.

"Oh this could be good. I want to get my revenge on you for not letting me come with you to pizza." Gazzy grins.

"I said no."

"Yay, so we're playing! Okay, everyone, gather in a circle we're going to use the phone thingy."

"I said no!" But of course, everyone ignores me, including Fang.

I sigh and reluctantly take a seat beside Nudge and Gazzy.

Nudge taps the thingy mabob and it starts spinning until it lands on a name.

"Fang, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Awe, your no fun. Have you ever called your best friend a naughty word?" I roll my eyes.

"Of course. I've called Max a dumb ass all the time and Iggy a dick."

"Language!" I shout. "And thanks jack ass."

"You are a complete hypocrite."

I grin. Nudge spins.

"Gazzy, truth or dare?"

He snorts. "Dare."

"Oh, this one is good. Go out side and sing your favorite nursery rhyme."

He stands up and pushes out the door and turns his head up to the sky. "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky..." and he sings the entire song then rushes back inside to us who weren't trying to contain our laughter.

"Okay, Max, truth or dare."

"Truth."

She scrunches up her nose. "This is a weird one."

"What is it?"

"Would you think in was a turn-on if your bf/gf wanted to watch Disney movies with you?"

I don't hesitate. "Definitely. I love Disney movies, Fang and I watch them all the time." I slap my palm to my face. "Shit." I mutter.

But it's already to late. Iggy leans on Nudge as they crack up laughing.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. Besides, we're not even boyfriend and girlfriend!" Fang has his mouth covered, trying not to smile but one makes it's way across his lips.

"It's okay to get turned on by me Max." He says no longer hiding his grin. "I have that natural effect on girls."

"Next question!" I yell. I glare at him. "I hate you." I mouth to him.

He makes a heart with his hands and I flick him the bird. His grin widens.

A few hours later we are getting ready to leave when I grab Fangs wrist to stop him and cough into my arm. I speak in a scratchy voice. "Hey guys, I'm not feeling too well. Fang and I are going to stay back, but you guys have fun."

Fang shoots me a curious look and I make a show of coughing some more.

"Alright, I guess it's just the two of us then." Iggy says and bows to Nudge and offers an arm. "Malady?"

Nudge blushes like mad but takes his arm. She shoots me a glare as they are leaving out the door. I smile and do a 'ta ta' wave.

"Don't watch any Disney movies while we gone."

I stick my tongue out at her.

The door to the tour bus closes and I laugh.

I turn to look at Fang. "So what should we do while they are off on their date?" I ask him.

"Movie?"

"Sounds good to me." I say.

We go through the movie box and pull out a random one.

"The Notebook? Isn't that some romance movie?"

"I think so... Ya wanna watch and make fun of it?"

"Definitely."

We put it in and start to watch the world's sappiest romance movie. We were cracking up the entire time.

When they start to kiss in the rain I tilt my head. "I turn to my best friend.

"Hey Fang?"

"Hmm?" He turns his head to me with that irritating smirk. "What is it?"

"Why do people kiss?"

"What?"

"Have you ever kissed anyone?" I ask with my head tilted to the side, my back resting against the armrest.

"Well yeah, haven't you?" I glance away and bite my lip. "You haven't? Oh wow." He laughs.

"What's it like?" I ask.

My feet are rested in his lap but now he moves across the couch and comes inches from my face. My heart beat quickens as he leans forward and presses his lips to mine.

"Mng!" I squeak but am to shocked to pull away.

Then he's returning to his previous position on the couch, studying me. My heart drums against my rib cage as I stare at my best friend with wide eyes.

"Well?" He asks. "What's it like?"

I blink. "It's..." My blood hums. "..It's weird." I deadpan.

If we were in an anime, He would have sweat dropped.

"Nice." He says and I laugh at him.

"You asked. What, did you expect me to say 'oh Fang that kiss was amazing please do it again!' or what?"

"Course not. I only did it cause you asked what it was like. I don't know why but I liked the thought of me being your first kiss." He shrugs.

My heart thuds in my ears. The credits come on for the move and Fang stands up and stretches. "Makes me proud some how like no one can hurt you now. Besides, you and I both know it didn't mean anything."

He glances at the clock which reads 10:07. "G'night."

"Good night." I stare at the TV screen until I hear the bed creak signaling that he had laid down.

I look to the curtain separating Fang and I.

My heart finally starts to calm down and beat regularly.

_You say that now, but we can all see it coming._

_I don't know why but I liked the thought of me being your first kiss._

_It didn't mean anything._

"Shit." The word escapes my lips and I smack my cheeks in an attempt to get rid of the rising heat.

* * *

**Daw, little fluff for you there. Thanks for reading, please leave a review and let me know what you think. If you have ideas for the story you can always let me know. I might just use them if you let me.**

**Thanks guys.**

**-Fantasy**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, so I had this whole chapter typed up and everything, I just needed internet to post. So, I went to my mom and she started playing with it a bit, trying to get internet. Turns out she _couldn't_ so she gave it back. Well, she restarted the entire computer and I hadn't saved it yet. I needed _internet_ to save it. I entire chapter was gone so I had to retype all of it. The first way I wrote it was way better but I tried to do my best on what I wrote.**

**I hope It's all right. Sorry for not updating in a sooner.**

**Oh and, I don't own any of the places mentioned in this Chapter. They are all real.**

* * *

Two years ago (13 years old)

"Hey Fang, what's seven times eight?" I ask turning to Fang who lays next to me on my bed. He glances at the Math homework that I'm attempting to do. He is a foot away from me, silently doing his World Geography.

His dark eyes dart to me, then back to his paper. "You're in the eighth grade and you still don't know your times tables?"

I scoff. "That's what I have you for." I barely catch the roll of his eyes.

"Do the circle thingy to figure it out."

"You don't know do you?"

Now it's his turn to scoff. "I don't want to be your human calculator for the rest of my life."

"But at least I know you'll be there for the rest of my life."

He continues working in silence. I frown. "Poke." I say poking his cheek. He doesn't react.

"Faaaaaaang." I wine rolling into his side, making his pencil jerk across the answer sheet. He growls and busies himself with erasing. I stare at him from my place on my back.

"Hey, hey, hey. Hey Fang I bet I can make you angry with just one word." He turns to me propped up on one elbow.

"You're on. I've put up with you for thirteen years, what's one word."

I grin up at him with my head tilted to the side and poke him in the nose. "Boop!"

He blinks.

"Gaaaah, that's so freaking annoying!" He shoves me and I roll away giggling. After a moment he lets out a half-hearted huff and turns back to his homework.

I roll back into his side and shift to where I hug him around the waist, forcing his body to turn toward me. I bury my face in his chest and breath in his familiar scent of freshly peeled oranges. He's kind of going through a stage right now. One that he loves oranges.

He tries to shove me away by the shoulders but my grip on him only tightens.

"Faaaaaang." I wine.

He goes limp. "Fine. Seven times eight is fifty-six. Learn your times tables."

"Thank you!" I grin brightly as I roll away and back to my awaiting math problem.

I work my way through the numbers easily until I reach the end.

"Hey Fang-"

"I'm not giving you another answer."

I close my text-book and push it onto the floor. Fang looks at me oddly and I roll into him once more. I fist my hands into his black shirt and curl into him. My legs pull to my chest.

"I just wanted to say 'I love you'." I yawn.

He huffs and ignores my senseless affections as he continues to flip through his book.

Now

Everything, as in me, is normal when Iggy and Nudge get home. Janie comes later with Gazzy and we go to bed. Janie starts the bus to drive to the next state. We say goodnight and I fall into bed with Fang who has long since fallen asleep.

Like always, I awake from a nightmare and I stare at the top bunk. This time it was a pole falling from the sky that killed him. A shiver runs down my spine. I'm so used to the night terrors that they don't affect my waking hours anymore. I don't get bags under my eyes any longer so no one worries.

It's good that way.

I feel the gentle sway of the bus and I let myself be rocked to sleep.

* * *

I wake again to someone tickling my nose. By instinct, I smash my palm upward and it connects with someones face. Something wet squashes out from between my finger tips and I hear laughter to my right.

"You should have known that wouldn't work." Someone says from a distance, sounding suspiciously like Gazzy.

I pry one eye open curiously and grin. Fang crouches in front of me with a blank expression on his face.

He blinks and a blob of Whipped Cream drops from his chin to the bus floor. Iggy sits on the carpet beside him laughing his guts out, clutching a feather in his hand.

I bring my hand to my face and lick between my fingers.

"Mmm." I hum, then reach out to Fang and swipe the sweet foam off his cheek and bring it to my lips once more.

The bus hits a pot hole and Iggy lifts into the air for a split second before his ass slams into the ground. I wince in sympathy as he clutches his lower back from the jar it just took.

To tired to stand, I roll out from the covers and onto the ugly carpet. My flock move out-of-the-way as I start to crawl through the useless curtain and toward the mini fridge.

I have trouble opening it because it catches on my head before the door slams as far as it can on its hinges. After concluding that what I want is not there I turn to the four people on the couch.

Nudge wordlessly tosses me the can of Whipped Cream, which I then continue to spray in my mouth.

I look at them from my propped up position on the floor. I also notice that I'm only in underwear and one of Fangs old shirts that I stole from him. Oops.

"So wa's on de ahenda." I say around my bloating mouth.

"Well, first we have to get to California which is still an hour and a half away, then we have time for a practice round at the stage, then Janie said we can just hang out for a while til we have to go to bed. The concert is at 1:30 but we still have to be back stage for sound check, wardrobe change, and all that crap. Hey Max, can we go to the mall after practice? Please?"

"Ah..." I fill my mouth with more sweetie goodness to keep from answering.

"Come on, please Maxie?" Iggy pipes in from between Nudge and Gazzy.

"Pwease?" Gazzy joins just to annoy me.

I look to Fang helplessly but he's no help. He just shrugs from his spot on the arm rest.

I grit my teeth and tell myself to toughen up. "Fine. But only for a few hours."

They cheer in triumph and Janie gives me a sympathetic look in the mirror, yet it also says 'suck it up'.

Four hours later, I am literally dragged into the gigantic Arden Fair Mall. The butt of my jeans almost rips from road burn. Like I said, dragged.

"Pleeeeeaaaase." I almost beg as the concrete turns to cold tile and I'm finally jerked to my feet. I whimper as I'm dragged into the first store, courtesy of none other than Nudge. Iggy and Gazzy immediately split off to do their own thing and Fang lingers in front of the store, not wanting to go in.

That probably having to do with that this store just happens to be Victoria's Secret.

Groooaaaan.

I dig my heels into the now carpeted ground but all the good that does is wear out the rubber on my shoes. Nudge is apparently really really strong. Even I wouldn't be able to stop her when she goes on a rampage shopping spree.

She shoves me into a dressing room and five pieces of clothing hits me in the face, one after another.

I whimper. "Why do you like to torture me?" She answers with another bra slapping me in the face.

A good twenty minutes later, I finally burst out of the store with five bags in hand and shove them into Fang's empty arms. He shoots me a glare, which I ignore, and skip away.

I stop in my tracks a few feet away and my nose twitches.

"Foooood." I moan. "I didn't know there was a food court." I whine and step in its direction when a hand clamps down on the back on my shirt collar and starts dragging me in Forever 21, away from all the wonderful food.

I whimper and reach hopelessly at my receding heaven as I'm dragged into hell instead. I turn my pouting eyes to Fang, but he just raises a bag in kudos.

My arms drop and I let my butt get rug burn across the carpet.

_Another_ twenty minutes later, I sprint from the store, toss the bags at Fang's head, and dart toward the food court before Nudge can catch me again for more torture in hell.

I get in line at a Steak Escape and am ordering my food in seconds. I'm squirting ketchup beside my fries when my dear ol' friends walk up, Fang struggling with the fifteen bags.

"Sup." I nod at them and shove some food in my mouth. I walk past them and to an empty table, them following with a synchronized roll of the eyes. Hmm, they must have practice or something.

I shove one end of the sandwich into my mouth. Iggy and Gazzy show up sometime ginning like crazy people, which of course they are but still. I decide that I _don't_ want to know what they were up to. Knowing them, it was probably illegal.

Fang grabs a hand full of fries and shoves them in his mouth, but when Iggy reaches for my plate, I slap his hand away.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Fang can have them but not me."

"I didn't see a thing." I reply.

Fang gloats by grabbing another hand full off my plate. There is a snorted laugh around the table.

When Nudge _finally_ lets us leave, the sun is just starting to set. All of us are carrying at least six bags, except Nudge. The only person who bought something doesn't carry a thing. We walk through a playground and I jog to get ahead.

I smile when I see a mother and her daughter playing frisbee. Well, trying. The little girl is so small, she drops in every time, and she can't throw it straight.

The mother throws it and I know immediately that it is going to go too far. I sails over the child's head and into the street.

To my horror, the little girl steps off the curb to get it.

In the back of my mind, I see another body and another park. I see blood on my hands.

"Ari." I whisper. Before I know what's happening, I drop the bags in my hands, and dart forward.

From the corner of my eye, I see a bus barrel around a bend in the road and I'm screaming, the mother is screaming. Fang is screaming. Why wont she stop?

_I'm not going to make it._

The child has the frisbee in her hand and she finally looks up to see the oncoming truck.

_I'm not going to_ make it.

The bus is only three feet away when I fling myself from the grass and into the path of the vehicle. The young girl just opens her mouth and a scream starts when I lift her in my arm as I continue my forward momentum.

_I made it,_ just passes my mind when something hard slams into my shoulder at fifty miles and hour. I twist as I fall and hold the girls face into my chest so she doesn't get hurt.

My butt hits first, then my head slams into the concrete with a terrible crack that resonates the sound around the entire block.

I must have blacked out because the next thing I know, I'm being shaken and a small voice calls out. "Miss?"

I become aware of the constant pain in my head as I crack one eye open. The girl who can't be more than four crouches beside my head my pokes me in the cheek. I sit up slowly, holding back a moan, and I feels like a spike gets lodged in my head.

I feel something sticky matting my hair and dripping down the back of my neck. I look where my head previously was and there was a dark puddle spread out and it confused me.

_Why is that there. What is it?_

When I drag my heavy body to my fee, someone stomps on the spike that was still dug in the back of my skull. Spots dance across my vision.

My head hurts.

I reach out and the girl takes my hand.

Together, we cross the street when there is a beak in traffic. Amazingly, no one had stopped when I was hit. When we step onto the curb, the young girl releases my hand and runs into her mothers arms. The young woman is visibly shaking and tears leave wet streaks down her cheeks.

She shakes my hand a million times, thanking me over and over before she leaves but I hardly hear her because of that damn train that's ringing in my ears. I didn't even know there _where_ trains in California.

I had to push past my friends on the way to get the child to her mother so they have been around me, trying to talk to me for a while.

My ears ring and I'm looking for that stupid train.

My head. It hurts.

"Max." Someone and everyone calls.

I'm getting frustrated now because I still can't find the damn train and it's getting closer. Of course my eyes sight being jacked up isn't helping.

_It hurts._

I finally give in and decide to find out why there is a spike in the back of my skull and reach behind my head. It stings even more sharply when I press my fingers into a wet spot.

They come away sticky with that dark stuff that was on the pavement.

Suddenly my legs buckle and someone catches me before I hit the ground. Someone's arm hits the back of my knees and I being lifted up. My head feels way to heavy so I bury it and my fist in the person's shirt.

It leaves a crimson spot on the black fabric.

"Max stay awake." Someone says.

I _am_ awake. I say, or I think I say, with my eye lids drooping.

"Max. Max, look at me. Stay awake Max. Don't go to sleep."

_Why do they keep saying my name? I'm right here._

I lift my head and meet obsidian eyes for a few unfocused seconds, enough for something to pop into my head and I grin lazily. "Hey Fang, I remember what seven times eight is." Then my head lolls back, my eyes close and everything goes dark.

It doesn't hurt.

* * *

**I hope that ending wasn't too much of a shock for you. I hope you liked it.**

**Leave a review and let me know what you think. I would really appreciate it.**

**Thanks guys.**

**-Fantasy**


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